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Twilight Imperium 4e - Game 2 - Round 7: Game Over!

Over three thousand years ago, the Lazax ruled the galaxy. But after many millennia of control, the Lazax grew complacent with their position over the other races. The six great races of Sol, Hylar, N'orr, Hacan, Letnev, and Xxcha began to chafe under the rule of the Lazax Empire. And so when a trade dispute over the Quann wormhole resulted in the Sol armada acting against the Letnev, a flame spread like wildfire throughout the galaxy, igniting a civil war between races that had only tenuously been held back by the Lazax rule. In the centuries that followed, the Twilight War eradicated the Lazax race and turned back thousands of years of progress. The great races retreated to their home planets to rebuild, and once the Galactic Council was once again able to meet, it was a shadow of its former strength. And now, thousands of years later, after the long era of the Dark Years, the time is right for a new race to step up and become the rulers of the galaxy, and the guiding hand for all races within its domain.

Twilight Imperium is a boardgame of galactic empire-building on a large scale, often described as a 4X game given physical form. Players build ships, conquer planets, research technology, and engage in trade and diplomacy, all in the pursuit of earning victory points toward claiming the Imperial Throne of Mecatol Rex and rule over the entire galaxy. This is a 4th edition game, using the following variants and options:

First-game pre-made galaxy.

Snake draft for position and race.

No promissory notes will be in play.

For expediency of play, some resolutions such as combat die rolls will be performed simultaneously.

There are a lot of rules to read through, and the summary I am putting into these opening posts will not be entirely comprehensive. I recommend reading through the Learn To Play rulebook linked above for starters. You might also want to look at other or previous games played on the forum for an idea of the flow of the game.

In general, actions will be noted in bold dodgerblue, bold limegreen, and bold red: see the sections below for specific formatting. Alternatively, players may post actions in bold using their race's color. Except for conversations initiated by the host, all player conversation must be done in-thread. If you have need for clarifications, feel free to ask in bold darkorange.

Game Objectives

In order to claim the Imperial Throne of Mecatol Rex, players must accumulate 10 victory points (VP). As soon as any player has completed 10 VP worth of Objectives, the game ends immediately, even if another player could have gained more VP later in the round. VP are generally earned by fulfilling Objective cards, which include two types: Public and Secret.

The Public Objective line is comprised of 5 Stage I cards and 5 Stage II cards. Two Stage I objectives are publicly revealed at the start of the game, and one Public Objective is revealed towards the end of each round. If there are no more Objective cards to reveal when one would be revealed, the game ends instead and the player with the most victory points wins. In case of a tie, the player who has the earliest (lowest) initiative value wins.

Each player has a hand of Secret Objective cards, drawing one at the start of the game. Secret Objectives may only be fulfilled by the holding player. A player can have at most three Secret Objectives, and must return an unfulfilled Secret Objective to the deck if they draw a fourth.

Races and Special Abilities

A total of seventeen races are available for play, of which six were randomly drawn:

The Winnu

- Home System: Winnu (3R, 4I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 2 Fighters, 2 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Flagship: Salai Sai Corian: Combat Value 7 (x?), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. When this unit makes a combat roll, it rolls a number of dice equal to the number of your opponent's non-Fighter ships in this system.
- Starting Technology: Choose any technology that has no prerequisites (Neural Motivator, Antimass Deflectors, Sarween Tools, Plasma Scoring)
- Racial Promissory Note: Acquiescence: At the end of the Strategy Phase: Exchange 1 of your Strategy Cards with a Strategy Card that was chosen by the Winnu player. Then, return this card to the Winnu player.
- Racial Technology: Lazax Gate Folding (Blue, requires 2 Blue): During your Tactical Actions, if you do not control Mecatol Rex, treat its system as if it contains both an Alpha and Beta wormhole. Action: If you control Mecatol Rex, exhaust this card to place 1 Infantry from your reinforcements on Mecatol Rex.
- Racial Technology: Hegemonic Trade Policy (Yellow, requires 2 Yellow): Exhaust this card when 1 or more of your units use Production; swap the resource and influence value of 1 planet you control until the end of your turn.
- Commodities: 3
- Blood Ties: You do not have to spend influence to remove the Custodians token from Mecatol Rex.
- Reclamation: After you resolve a Tactical Action during which you gained control of Mecatol Rex, you may place 1 PDS and 1 Space Dock from your reinforcements on Mecatol Rex.

The Emirates of Hacan

- Home System: Hercant (1R, 1I); Arretze (2R, 0I), Kamdorn (0R, 1I)
- Starting Units: 2 Carriers, 1 Cruiser, 2 Fighters, 4 Infantry, 1 Space Dock
- Flagship: Wrath of Kenara: Combat Value 7 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. After you roll a die during a Space Combat in this system, you may spend 1 Trade Good to apply +1 to the result.
- Starting Technologies: Antimass Deflectors, Sarween Tools
- Racial Promissory Note: Trade Convoys: Action: Place this card faceup in your play area. While this card is in your play area, you may negotiate transactions with players who are not your neighbor. If you activate a system that contains 1 or more of the Hacan player's units, return this card to the Hacan player.
- Racial Technology: Production Biomes (Green, requires 2 Green): Action: Exhaust this card and spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to gain 4 Trade Goods and choose 1 other player; that player gains 2 Trade Goods.
- Racial Technology: Quantum Datahub Node (Yellow, requires 3 Yellow): At the end of the Strategy Phase, you may spend 1 token from your Strategy pool and give another player 3 of your Trade Goods. If you do, give 1 of your Strategy cards to that player and take 1 of his Strategy cards.
- Commodities: 6
- Masters of Trade: You do not have to spend a Command token to resolve the secondary ability of the Trade Strategy card.
- Guild Ships: You can negotiate transactions with players who are not your neighbor.
- Arbiters: When negotiating a transaction, Action Cards can be exchanged as part of that transaction.

The L1z1x Mindnet

- Home System: [0.0.0] (5R, 0I)
- Starting Units: 1 Dreadnought, 1 Carrier, 3 Fighters, 5 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Racial Unit: Super-Dreadnought (Dreadnought): As Dreadnought, but Carry Capacity 2.
- Flagship: [0.0.1]: Combat Value 5 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 5. Sustain Damage. During a Space Combat, hist produced by this ship and by your Dreadnoughts in this system must be assigned to non-Fighter ships if able.
- Starting Technologies: Neural Motivator, Plasma Scoring
- Racial Promissory Note: Cybernetic Enhancements: At the start of your turn: Remove 1 token from the L1x1x player's Strategy pool and return it to his reinforcements. Then, place 1 command token from your reinforcements in your Strategy pool. Then, return this card to the L1z1x player.
- Racial Tehcnology: Inheritance Systems (Yellow, requires 2 Yellow): You may exhaust this card and spend 2 resources when you research a technology; ignore all of that technology's prerequisites.
- Racial Technology: Super-Dreadnought II (unit upgrade, requires 2 Blue and 1 Yellow): As Dreadnought, but Combat Value 4, Movement 2, Carry Capacity 2. Sustain Damage, Bombardment 4. This unit cannot be destroyed by "Direct Hit" Action Cards.
- Commodities: 2
- Assimilate: When you gain control of a planet, replace each PDS and Space Dock that is on that planet with a matching unit from your reinforcements.
- Harrow: After each round of Ground Combat, your ships in the active system may use their Bombardment abilities against your opponent's ground forces on the planet.

- Home System: Druaa (3R, 1I), Maaluuk (0R, 2I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 1 Destroyer, 3 Fighters, 4 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Racial Unit: Hybrid Crystal Fighter (Fighter): As Fighter, but Combat Value 8.
- Flagship: Matriarch: Combat Value 9 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 6. Sustain Damage. During an invasion in this system, you may commit Fighters to planets as if they were ground forces. After combat, return those units to the space area.
- Starting Technologies: Neural Motivator, Sarween Tools
- Racial Promissory Note: Gift of Prescience: At the end of the Strategy Phase: place this card face up in your play area and place the Naalu "0" token on your Strategy Card; you are first in initiative order. The Naalu player cannot use his "Telepathic" faction ability during this game round. Return this card to the Naalu player at the end of the Status Phase.
- Racial Technology: Hybrid Crystal Fighter II (unit upgrade, requires 1 Green and 1 Blue): As Fighter, but Combat Value 7, Movement 2. Does not need to be Carried; each Fighter in excess of your ships' Capacity counts as 1/2 of a ship against your Fleet pool.
- Racial Technology: Neuroglaive (Green, requires 3 Green): After another player activates a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, that player removes 1 token from his Fleet pool and returns it to his reinforcements.
- Commodities: 3
- Telepathic: At the end of the Strategy Phase, place the Naalu "0" token on the Strategy Card; you are first in initiative order.
- Foresight: After another player moves ships into a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, you may place 1 token from your Strategy pool in an adjacent system that does not contain another player's ships; move your ships from the active system into that system.

Sardakk N'orr

- Home System: Tren'lak (1R, 0I), Quinarra (3R, 1I)
- Starting Units: 2 Carriers, 1 Cruiser, 5 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Racial Unit: Exotrireme (Dreadnought): As Dreadought, but Bombardment 4 (x2).
- Flagship: C'morran N'orr: Combat Value 6 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. Apply +1 to the result of each of your other ships' combat rolls in this system.
- Starting Technology: (none)
- Racial Promissory Note: Tekklar Legion: At the start of an Invasion Combat: Apply +1 to the result of each of your units' combat rolls during this combat. If your opponent is the N'orr player, apply -1 to the result of each of his unit's combat rolls during this combat. Then, return this card to the N'orr player.
- Racial Technology: Valkyrie Particle Weave (Red, requires 2 Red): After making combat rolls during a round of Ground Combat, if your opponent produced 1 or more hits, you produce 1 additional hit.
- Racial Technology: Exotrireme II (unit upgrade, requires 2 Blue and 1 Yellow): As Dreadnought, but Movement 2, Bombardment 4 (x2). This unit cannot be destroyed by "Direct Hit" action cards. After a round of Space Combat, you may destroy this unit to destroy up to 2 ships in this system.
- Commodities: 3
- Unrelenting: Apply +1 to the result of each of your units' combat rolls.

Game Setup

This game will use the first-game galaxy setup as described on page 23 of the Learn to Play rulebook. Unlike the standard rules, a draft will be held to determine races and start position. Starting from the first player a snake draft (first to last, then last to first) will be performed to select race and starting position. Six races will be randomly dealt for selection; each player may select either a race to play or a start position on their turn.

Once all players have a race and start location, the Custodians of Mecatol Rex token is placed on Mecatol Rex (see Odds and Ends) and the Public Objective line is created. Each player receives 2 Secret Objective cards and chooses 1 to keep; the other Objective card is shuffled back into its deck, unrevealed. Players place their starting units, and starting technologies. Players then allocate 3 Command Counters to Tactic pool, 3 counters to Fleet pool, and 2 counters to Strategy pool. A random player will be selected to be the first speaker. The game begins with the first Strategy Phase.

General Game Flow

The game is played over a number of rounds, typically 5-9 in total. Each round is divided into four parts: the Strategy Phase, the Action Phase, the Status Phase, and the Agenda Phase. In the Strategy Phase, players select Strategy Cards: this determines the special action that player may take during the round as well as play order. The bulk of activity takes place in the Action Phase: here players may deploy abilities specified by their choice of Strategy Card, activate systems for unit movement, space combat, invasion of planets, and building of new units, or to play certain Action cards. Once everybody has passed their turns in the Action Phase, the Status Phase allows for players to score victory points by claiming objectives and refreshes the board setup for the next round of play. Finally, the Agenda Phase is where players vote on political agendas that will affect the board and gameplay rules. The Agenda Phase is only performed after at least one player has taken control of Mecatol Rex.

Strategy Phase

In the Strategy Phase, players select Strategy Cards for the round. Each Strategy Card has a special ability and determines play order in the Action Phase. Starting from the player with the speaker token and moving clockwise, each player will choose a card; each card may be selected by at most one player. To select a Strategy Card, note your selection in bold dodgerblue. Example:

I select the (1) Leadership Strategy Card.

At the end of the Strategy Phase, there will be two unselected Strategy Cards. A Trade Good will be added to each card as incentive for selection in future rounds. A player selecting a Strategy Card with Trade Goods on it gains those Trade Goods.

Action Phase

Starting with the player with the lowest-numbered Strategy Card and moving up in number, players take actions sequentially until all players have passed. There are three different types of actions that players can perform: the Strategic Action, Tactical Action, and Component Actions. Details about the first two actions are contained in the following sections. Component actions can be found on various Action cards, Technology cards, and faction abilities: the acting player declares the card they wish to play in bold dodgerblue, noting its effects. Example:

I play an Action Card: Focused Research.
I spend 4 Trade Goods to gain the technology Sarween Tools.

If a player does not wish to or is unable to make any more actions during the round, they may pass their turn. Players must use the Strategic Action specified on their Strategy Card before ending their turn for the round. Players who have passed their turn will still be able to participate in secondary abilities from other players’ Strategic Actions, but take no further actions in the Action Phase. Players may pass their turn in bold red. Example:

I PASS my turn.

Strategic Action and Strategy Cards (1~5)

With a Strategic Action, players activate the ability specified on their chosen Strategy Card. After executing the primary ability, all other players, including players who have already passed their turn, will have a chance to make use of the secondary ability listed on the card by spending a Command Counter from their Strategy Allocation. Normally, players make their choices clockwise from the primary player, but for the purposes of the forum game environment, players may choose to pass or play on a secondary ability out of order if they wish. Text of each card and a short explanation and example for each follow below. Generally, use of a Strategy Card ability is noted in bold dodgerblue. Usage example:

I activate the primary ability...I PLAY the secondary ability...I PASS on the secondary ability.

(1) Leadership

Primary Ability: Gain 3 Command tokens. You may then spend any amount of influence to gain 1 Command token for every 3 influence spent.Secondary Ability: Spend any amount of influence to gain 1 Command token for every 3 influence spent.

Notes: Unlike other Strategy Cards, there is no need to spend a token from your Strategy pool to use this card’s secondary ability. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (1) Leadership Strategy Card and exhaust Rarron (3I), placing 2 counters into Tactic pool, 1 into Fleet pool, and 1 into Strategy pool.

I PLAY the secondary ability, exhausting Mehar Xull (3I) to place 1 Command token into my Tactic pool.

(2) Diplomacy

Primary Ability: Choose 1 system other than the Mecatol Rex that contains a planet you control; each other player places a Command token from their reinforcements in the chosen system. Then, ready each exhausted planet you control in that system.Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to ready up to 2 exhausted planets.

Notes: The primary ability protects a system from interference by other players; if they have no counters in their reinforcements they must take one from their race sheet if possible. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (2) Diplomacy II Strategy Card, targeting the Abyz-Fria system. I ready Abyz and Fria.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool token to ready Quann and Starpoint.

(3) Politics

Primary Ability: Choose a player other than the speaker. That player gains the speaker token. Then, draw 2 Action cards. Finally, look at the top 2 cards of the Agenda deck. Place each card on the top or bottom of the deck in any order.Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to draw 2 Action cards.

Notes: Two Agendas are resolved in each Agenda Phase, which follows the Status Phase if at least one player has previously taken control of Mecatol Rex. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (3) Politics Strategy Card, claiming the speaker token. (The host will then note when the remainder of the ability has been resolved.)

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool token to draw 2 Action cards.

(4) Construction

Primary Ability: Place 1 PDS or Space Dock on a planet you control. Then, place 1 PDS on a planet you control.Secondary Ability: Place 1 token from your Strategy pool in any system; you may place either 1 Space Dock or 1 PDS on a planet you control in that system.

Notes: The Construction Strategy Card is the primary means by which structure units are placed on the game board. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (4) Construction Strategy Card, placing a Space Dock and a PDS on Zohbat.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool token to place a Space Dock on Lodor.

(5) Trade

Primary Ability: Gain 3 Trade Goods and replenish your Commodities. Then, choose any number of other players. Those players use the secondary ability of this Strategy Card without spending a Command token.Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to replenish Commodities.

Notes: Each faction has a maximum number of Commodities that they can hold. Commodities do nothing for the player holding them, but they can be traded to other players, which converts them into Trade Goods. See the Odds and Ends below for more on Commodities and Trade Goods. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (5) Trade Strategy Card, receiving 3 Trade Goods and replenishing 3 Commodities. I select Sol and Jol-Nar to make use of the secondary ability.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool token to replenish 3 Commodities.

Posts

Primary Ability: Remove 1 of your Command tokens from the game board; then, gain 1 Command token. Redistribute any number of Command tokens on your command sheet.Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to use the Production ability of one of your Space Docks in your home system.

Notes: When the secondary ability is used, note that the home system does not need to be and is not activated. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (6) Warfare Strategy Card, removing a Command token from the Centauri-Gral system and allocating it to Tactic pool.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool counter and exhausting Vefut II (2R) to produce 2 Destroyers (2R) in my home system.

(7) Technology

Primary Ability: Research 1 technology. You may then spend 6 resources to research 1 technology.Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your strategy pool and 4 resources to research 1 technology.

Notes: Common technologies are divided into five categories and organized into a loose tech tree. (Tech Tree) Most technologies have prerequisites, requiring a certain number of colored technologies in order to research. Note that unit upgrade technologies are colorless and do not satisfy any prerequisites. Certain planets with technology specialties can be exhausted to skip over one prerequisite of the matching color. Each race also has two Race-Specific Technologies only they may purchase. These technologies have their own prerequisites. Usage examples:

Notes: Each player can hold a maximum of 3 Secret Objectives. Drawing a fourth requires that an unfulfilled Secret Objective card be shuffled back into the deck. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (8) Imperial Strategy Card, fulfilling "Intimidate Council" and gaining 1 victory point for controlling Mecatol Rex.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool counter to draw one Secret Objective.

Tactical Action

With a Tactical Action, players may activate a system for movement, invasion, or production. The following steps are taken in a Tactical Action:

Activation: One counter will be spent from the Tactic pool to activate the chosen system. A system cannot be activated if it already has a Command counter from that player.

Movement: Ships may be moved from other systems into the activated system. Ships cannot be moved out of activated systems and cannot pass through systems with non-Fighter enemy ships. Units with Carry Capacity can pick up units at any time during their movement as long as the systems do not contain enemy ships and are not previously activated.

Space Cannon Offense: After movement, all players in range can use Space Cannon abilities to score hits on space units. Players who are not the active player can only target the active player's ships.

Space Combat: A space combat occurs when ships of different players are in the same system. See section below.

Invasion: Ground forces can be landed on planets to establish control. Ground Combat occurs when units of different players are in the same planet. See section below.

Production: Players may exhaust planets and spend Trade Goods to build units at Space Docks and other units with Production. If in a system with another player's ships, blockaded production units may only build ground forces. A unit's Production value states the maximum number of units that can be produced; see the Units section below for a list.

If a planet is taken, the planet card is received in exhausted state. Example:

I spend a Tactic pool counter to activate the Tar'mann system.
A Carrier with two Fighters and two Infantry from Tequ'ran-Torkan and a Cruiser from Thibah will be moved in. (assuming no space combat,)I land two Ground Forces onto Tar'mann, taking control of the planet. (assuming the planet is empty)

Building units: I exhaust Bereg (3R) to build a Cruiser (2R) and two Fighters (1R).

Space Combat and Invasions

Before a Space Combat, Anti-Fighter Barrage occurs. In Anti-Fighter Barrage, Destroyers roll dice to try and eliminate opposing Fighters before the start of combat. Once complete, Space Battles are resolved in rounds:

Announce Retreat: Retreats that are declared will occur at the end of the combat round. Ground units can be loaded to space units at this time.

Make Combat Rolls: Both players roll outcomes for all their ships. Every roll above the corresponding ship's Combat Value scores a hit.

Remove Casualties: Both players assign hits to ships to remove from their own fleets.

Execute Retreat: If a retreat was declared, it is executed now. In order to retreat, a fleet must be able to move to a system that contains a planet or unit under that player's control, and no ships belonging to another player. If the system has not yet been activated by the retreating player, they activate the system with a Command token from their reinforcements.

Battle rounds continue until a player retreats or only ships of one kind (or fewer) remain in the system. It is encouraged to have conditional orders in place with me in order to expedite the process.

Invasions flow similarly to Space Battles, but without a retreat option. Pre-combat, the attacker has the option of using Bombardment and the defender may use Space Cannon. For Bombardment, ships must be split between planets if there are multiple planets. Ground forces are allocated to planets after Bombardment. PDS units on the planets being invaded may use Space Cannon to destroy incoming ground forces. The remaining ground forces fight it out in rounds of rolling combat dice, then removing casualties. If the attacker wins with at least one ground force remaining, then he gains control of the planet in an exhausted state. All enemy structures are destroyed.

Units

The number of each type of unit a player may have on the board is limited, with the exception of Infantry and Fighters. Even then, there is a maximum number of 'divisions' of each type. If necessary, units can be removed from non-activated systems to be produced elsewhere. Units with Carry Capacity can support and move Infantry and Fighters in space. Units with Sustain Damage allow them to take one hit without being destroyed. Damaged units are not hampered combat-wise, though a second hit will destroy them. Damaged ships are repaired in the Status Phase. Each unit has one technology that can be used to improve their capabilities.

Space Dock Max Available: 3. Structure. No combat capabilities, but can support three Fighter units. Production X+2, where X = planet's resource value. Maximum of one can be present on each planet, built with the Construction Strategy card.

PDS (Planetary Defense System) Max Available: 6. Structure. Planetary Shield (defend against Bombardment), Space Cannon 6. Maximum of two can be present on each planet, built with the Construction Strategy card.

Once all players have passed their turns, the Action Phase ends and the Status Phase begins. In the Status Phase, the following steps are taken in order:

Score Objectives: Players may qualify for at most one Public Objective Card and one Secret Objective Card per round. A player must control all planets in their home system in order to claim a Public Objective. All players may claim each Public Objective once; players may not claim other players' Secret Objectives.

Reveal Public Objective: The next Public Objective in line is revealed; if there are no objectives left to reveal, the game ends.

Remove Command Tokens Tokens are removed from the board and returned to players' reinforcements.

Redistribute Command Areas If a player reduces their Fleet Supply, they must make sure their fleet numbers are in compliance with the new number.

Ready Cards: Planet, Technology, and Strategy cards are all readied.

Repair Damaged Ships

Return Strategy Cards Strategy Cards return to the common area for selection in the next Strategy Phase.

Most steps are automatic; outside of potential Action Card plays, players need only declare how they are redistributing their Command tokens in the Status Phase. Example:

I gain 2 Command tokens, placing 1 in Tactic pool and 1 in Strategy pool., or I gain 2 Command tokens, rearranging my Command areas to include 2 in Tactic pool, 4 in Fleet pool, and 2 in Strategy pool.

Agenda Phase

After a player has taken control of Mecatol Rex for the first time, removing the Custodians token, the Agenda Phase will follow the Status Phase. In this phase, players spend influence to vote on agendas with potentially large impacts. During each Agenda Phase, two agendas will be voted on:

Reveal Agenda: The top card of the Agenda deck is revealed.

Vote: Each player, starting from the left of the speaker, may exhaust planets for their influence values, casting the total influence spent towards a single Agenda outcome. A player can also choose to not exhaust anything and abstain from the vote.

Resolve Outcome: The outcome with the most votes is resolved; the speaker chooses an outcome in case of a tie. Law agendas voted "For" stay in play after resolving the vote; other outcomes are resolved and then discarded.

An example vote: I vote FOR the agenda, exhausting Meer (4I).

Note that planets exhausted after the first vote remain exhausted into the second vote. After two agendas are resolved, all planet cards are readied and the next Strategy Phase begins.

Odds and Ends

At the start of the game, the Custodians token is placed on Mecatol Rex. Before any player may land ground forces and establish control of Mecatol Rex, they must spend six influence. The player that does so gains 1 victory point, and the Agenda Phase is added to each game round after the Status Phase for the remainder of the game.

Command tokens are allocated to three areas. Tokens in the Strategy pool are generally used to play the secondary abilities of Strategy Cards, and counters in the Tactic pool are used to activate systems in Tactical Actions. Command tokens in the Fleet pool are not spent, but instead indicate the maximum number of friendly non-Fighter ships that can be supported in a single system at any time. Each player has a maximum of 16 Command tokens available in the game. If a game effect requires the placement of a token from the reinforcements and none is available, the counter must be taken from one of the allocated areas.

Keep in mind that removing all ground forces from a world after establishing control does not relinquish it. Only when an enemy takes over control does ownership transfer.

Certain map hexes have special features. Hexes with matching-lettered wormholes are considered adjacent, including for Space Cannon offense. Asteroid Field systems are impassable unless a player has the Antimass Deflectors technology. Supernova systems are completely impassable to movement. Nebula systems can be activated, but units may not move through them in a single activation. Ships defend with a +1 bonus to combat rolls while inside a Nebula, but their movement is reduced to 1 when moving out of a Nebula system. Gravity Rifts apply +1 movement to any ship that leaves or moves through the system, but have a chance of destroying any such ship: for each ship a die is rolled and on a 1-3, the ship is destroyed.

Commodities are gained through the Trade Strategy Card, but do nothing for the player holding them. When given to another player, however, they become Trade Goods. Trade Goods may be spent at any time as 1 resource or 1 influence, except in voting. Commodities and Trade Goods can be exchanged by the active player once per neighbor per turn; players are neighbors if they control units or planets in adjacent systems. Transfers may be performed by noting the action in bold dodgerblue. Transactions may also be performed between any pairs of players during the Agenda Phase, once per pair each vote.

Each player also has a hand of Promissory Notes that can be exchanged in transactions. At most one card per player can be exchanged in a transaction; you may also exchange Promissory Notes that are not yours. There are four generic notes held by each player, and one note that is race-specific. Generic notes:

- Ceasefire: After the <color> player activates a system that contains one or more of your units: The <color> player cannot move units into the active system. Then, return this card to the <color> player.
- Trade Agreement: When the <color> player replenishes commodities: The <color> player gives you all of his commodities. Then, return this card to the <color> player.
- Political Secret: When an Agenda is revealed: The <color> player cannot vote, play Action Cards, or use faction abilities until after that Agenda has been resolved. Then, return this card to the <color> player.
- Support for the Throne: When you receive this card, if you are not the <color> player, you must place it faceup in your play area and gain 1 Victory Point. If you activate a system that contains one or more of the <color> player's units, or if the <color> player is eliminated, lose 1 Victory Point and return this card to the <color> player.

When playing an Action Card outside of a Component Action, a player must first declare that they are making an Action Card play, after which all other players may also declare a play, or pass. If multiple players wish to play cards at the same time, resolution is in play order (which differs in each Phase of the game). The exception to Action Card declaration is the play of "Sabotage" cards: these do not need to be declared until they are played reactively to another Action Card being played. To declare the play of a card, note it in bold dodgerblue at the appropriate period in which it will be played.

The maximum hand size for Action Cards is seven. If a player exceeds this number at any time, they must immediately discard down to seven, even if they have more Action Cards to draw. In the latter case, the player may continue drawing cards after discarding down to seven.

To aid in recordkeeping, and as a common courtesy, it is recommended that you list the number of Commodities, Trade Goods, Action Cards, and Command Counter Allocation in bold limegreen after each of your actions. For example, at the start of the game, your status might look like this:

Signups will be open for approximately the next 24 hours. Make sure that you post your sign up in bold, colorful text to make sure I see it. @MrBody has dibs on one player slot if he so desires it; the remaining slots will be randomly selected from the remaining signups.

6 races will be drawn and draft? So the highest RNG gets first pick of the 6 races and so on?

Oh whoops, had some text in there for the standard galaxy creation rather than the first-game variant I'm using. Basically, the map will be pre-set except for starting position and race. There'll be a snake draft (first to last, then last to first) to select race and start position one by one. I wanted a little bit of interactivity at the start. After that, Secret Objectives will be handed out and a random player will be selected as Speaker.

Players in this game are Ketar, Lykouragh, MrBody discrider, jakobagger, and Phyphor.

The following races will be vying for the rule of the galaxy:

The Winnu

- Home System: Winnu (3R, 4I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 2 Fighters, 2 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Flagship: Salai Sai Corian: Combat Value 7 (x?), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. When this unit makes a combat roll, it rolls a number of dice equal to the number of your opponent's non-Fighter ships in this system.
- Starting Technology: Choose any technology that has no prerequisites (Neural Motivator, Antimass Deflectors, Sarween Tools, Plasma Scoring)
- Racial Technology: Lazax Gate Folding (Blue, requires 2 Blue): During your Tactical Actions, if you do not control Mecatol Rex, treat its system as if it contains both an Alpha and Beta wormhole. Action: If you control Mecatol Rex, exhaust this card to place 1 Infantry from your reinforcements on Mecatol Rex.
- Racial Technology: Hegemonic Trade Policy (Yellow, requires 2 Yellow): Exhaust this card when 1 or more of your units use Production; swap the resource and influence value of 1 planet you control until the end of your turn.
- Commodities: 3
- Blood Ties: You do not have to spend influence to remove the Custodians token from Mecatol Rex.
- Reclamation: After you resolve a Tactical Action during which you gained control of Mecatol Rex, you may place 1 PDS and 1 Space Dock from your reinforcements on Mecatol Rex.

The Emirates of Hacan

- Home System: Hercant (1R, 1I); Arretze (2R, 0I), Kamdorn (0R, 1I)
- Starting Units: 2 Carriers, 1 Cruiser, 2 Fighters, 4 Infantry, 1 Space Dock
- Flagship: Wrath of Kenara: Combat Value 7 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. After you roll a die during a Space Combat in this system, you may spend 1 Trade Good to apply +1 to the result.
- Starting Technologies: Antimass Deflectors, Sarween Tools
- Racial Technology: Production Biomes (Green, requires 2 Green): Action: Exhaust this card and spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to gain 4 Trade Goods and choose 1 other player; that player gains 2 Trade Goods.
- Racial Technology: Quantum Datahub Node (Yellow, requires 3 Yellow): At the end of the Strategy Phase, you may spend 1 token from your Strategy pool and give another player 3 of your Trade Goods. If you do, give 1 of your Strategy cards to that player and take 1 of his Strategy cards.
- Commodities: 6
- Masters of Trade: You do not have to spend a Command token to resolve the secondary ability of the Trade Strategy card.
- Guild Ships: You can negotiate transactions with players who are not your neighbor.
- Arbiters: When negotiating a transaction, Action Cards can be exchanged as part of that transaction.

- Home System: Druaa (3R, 1I), Maaluuk (0R, 2I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 1 Destroyer, 3 Fighters, 4 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Racial Unit: Hybrid Crystal Fighter (Fighter): As Fighter, but Combat Value 8.
- Flagship: Matriarch: Combat Value 9 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 6. Sustain Damage. During an invasion in this system, you may commit Fighters to planets as if they were ground forces. After combat, return those units to the space area.
- Starting Technologies: Neural Motivator, Sarween Tools
- Racial Technology: Hybrid Crystal Fighter II (unit upgrade, requires 1 Green and 1 Blue): As Fighter, but Combat Value 7, Movement 2. Does not need to be Carried; each Fighter in excess of your ships' Capacity counts as 1/2 of a ship against your Fleet pool.
- Racial Technology: Neuroglaive (Green, requires 3 Green): After another player activates a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, that player removes 1 token from his Fleet pool and returns it to his reinforcements.
- Commodities: 3
- Telepathic: At the end of the Strategy Phase, place the Naalu "0" token on the Strategy Card; you are first in initiative order.
- Foresight: After another player moves ships into a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, you may place 1 token from your Strategy pool in an adjacent system that does not contain another player's ships; move your ships from the active system into that system.

Players will now draft races and starting positions. On each player's turn, they will select a race or starting position. Each item may only be selected once, and each player may only take one race and one starting position.

The chancellor has decided to send 2 representatives to investigate if the blockade is real. The chancellor will then not believe said 2 individuals when they say the blockade is real and call for an additional investigation.

The Winnu have a lot of abilities to take Mecatol Rex (which is worth 1 VP) and keep a better grasp on it (which earns 1 VP directly through the Imperial Strategy card). They are a bit weak production-wise, but it's a pretty interesting and unique focus that they have.

Question on the N'orr dreadnought II self destruct: who picks which 2 ships are destroyed?

I believe the N'orr player gets to assign the hits, but I might need to check the wording of similar abilities tonight just to make sure.

Based on the wording of the equivalent Racial technology in TI3e and what I'm gathering from the Rules Reference regarding "Destroy" (Sec. 29), I'm gonna stick by this, and N'orr gets to decide what ships get destroyed. The fact that the targeted ships get destroyed rather than assigned hits makes the ability pretty bonkers, especially against opposing Dreadnought- and higher class ships.